BJP attacks Tharoor, but he won’t apologise

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has given the BJP a much-needed handle with his Hindu Pakistan remark, with spokesperson Sambit Patra saying Tharoor had once again cattle-classed the Indian democracy. Tharoor on Wednesday said at a function in Thiruvananthapuram that the BJP, if voted to power again, will rewrite the constitution and pave the way for the creation of a Hindu Pakistan.

The comments by Tharoor sparked demands from the BJP on Thursday for an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the attack on Indian democracy and Hindus, while his party voiced its disapproval and cautioned its leaders to exercise restraint in their response to what it called the saffron partys hatred.

If they have been able to win a repeat of their current strength in Lok Sabha, then frankly, our own democratic Constitution, as we understand, will not survive… because then they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one.

And that will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, and that will create a Hindu Pakistan… and that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram had said.

While the Congress urged restraint in the use of language, Tharoor got support from unexpected quarters. Former vice president Hamid Ansari said Tharoor is an educated man, a writer, and an MP and he heads Parliaments committee on external affairs.

Whatever he says, he will say after thorough consideration, Ansari said. There is a palpable sense of fear and multiple factors are responsible. You cant say it is BJP attacks Tharoor, but he wont say sorry Party seeks apology for Hindu Pakistan remark an inclusive democracy if 20 per cent of the people are excluded, Ansari had said earlier in an interview in the same vein as Tharoor.

Unfazed by the controversy, a combative Tharoor took to Facebook on Thursday to defend his comments, insisting that the BJP and RSSs idea of a Hindu Rashtra was the mirror image of Pakistan. I have said this before and I will say it again.

Pakistan was created as a state with a dominant religion that discriminates against its minorities and denies them equal rights. India never accepted the logic that had partitioned the country. But the BJP/RSS idea of a Hindu Rashtra is the mirror image of Pakistan, a state with a dominant majority religion that seeks to put its minorities in a subordinate place.

That would be a Hindu Pakistan. And it is not what our freedom movement fought for, nor (it is) the idea of India enshrined in our Constitution. Hitting out, Patra said, Yet again Tharoor has cattleclassed Indian democracy.

The Congress’ character is that it crosses the Lakshman Rekha(limit) in its hatred for Narendra Modi and the BJP, and in doing so, it assaults Indian democracy. Congress’s communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala, in a series of tweets, said: Indias values and fundamentals are an unequivocal guarantee of our civilisational role and set us apart from the divisive idea of Pakistan.

All Congress leaders must realise this historic responsibility bestowed upon us while choosing words and phraseology to reject BJPs hatred, he said.